Examples of marking tools include pencils, Crayons, brushes, engravers, rollers, chisels, pens, chalk, stacks of rocks, grinders, welders, branding, wearable marks/indicia, etc. Virtual marking devices include computer mice, keyboards, stylus, and touch pads often in connection with software and electronic digital models and images of tangible articles and maps, or topographic models, as well as virtual marking, manufacturing, meta-code, and image/model versions and revisions. Image and digital models of shoes, bones, clothing, etc. include computer-based modeling software in connection with digital models, such as point clouds and artistic designs, which can be transformed to a tangible use or involved with digital and real-life creation of objects and products.
A three dimensional model of any tangible real-life object can be created. Attributes of that object can be assigned to image pixels, surfaces, and real-life characteristics. A bone may be brittle, a plant may fluoresce chlorophyll, and art and roller-coasters may be appreciated. And, new tools are created for quantifying, improving, and enhancing objects' attributes.
Electronic, mechanical, and computer-related machines are also used to control electro-mechanical marking and manufacturing tools. Examples of marking acts include painting, engraving, etching (e.g. cutting), chemical reacting, curing, branding, dying, stamping, covering, replacing, scarring, material deposition or material connection, treatment, scratching, hiding, deforming, bending, and/or other means of marking and manufacturing objects.
Material removal marking has also been used. For example, chisels have been used to remove material in a marking and/or manufacturing process. Clay has been used to form and make pottery. Clay can be dyed and cured. And, subsequently, a chisel or engraver can be used to remove cured and dyed clay to again expose the underlying undyed clay and its characteristics. Then, once again, a dye, ink, or paint can be further applied to the newly exposed clay and/or previously dyed clay, if desired. Features, such as a handle for holding a clay pot, may also be added to the pottery or a handle may be created by removing part of the pottery to create the handle.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional ball-point pen 100 marking instrument is illustrated. The ballpoint pen 100, also known as a “biro” and “ball-point pen”, is a pen that dispenses ink over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a “ball point”. The metal commonly used is steel, brass, or tungsten carbide. It was conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable alternative to quill and fountain pens, and it is now the world's most-used writing instrument: millions are manufactured and sold daily. As a result, it has influenced art and graphic design and spawned an artwork genre.
The concept of using a ball point within a writing instrument as a method of applying ink to paper has existed since the late 19th century. In these inventions, the ink 115 was placed in a thin tube 120 whose end was blocked by a tiny ball 110, held so that it could not slip into the tube 120 or fall out of the pen 100. The ink 115 clung to the ball 110, which spun as the pen 100 was drawn across the paper 125 or other material, therefore giving areas of the ball 110 with its ink 115 transferred to the paper 125 allowing for another (or continued) coating of ink 110.
The first patent for a ballpoint pen was issued on 30 Oct. 1888, to John J. Loud, who was attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write “on rough surfaces-such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles” which then-common fountain pens could not. Loud's pen had a small rotating steel ball, held in place by a socket. Although it could be used to mark rough surfaces such as leather, as Loud intended, it proved to be too coarse for letter-writing. With no commercial viability, its potential went unexploited and the patent eventually lapsed. The manufacture of economical, reliable ballpoint pens as we know them today arose from experimentation, modern chemistry, and precision manufacturing capabilities of the early 20th century. Patents filed worldwide during early development are testaments to failed attempts at making the pens commercially viable and widely available. Early ballpoints did not deliver the ink evenly; overflow and clogging were among the obstacles inventors faced toward developing reliable ballpoint pens. If the ball socket were too tight, or the ink too thick, it would not reach the paper. If the socket were too loose, or the ink too thin, the pen would leak or the ink would smear. Ink reservoirs pressurized by piston, spring, capillary action, and gravity would all serve as solutions to ink-delivery, ink pressure, and flow problems.
Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian newspaper editor frustrated by the amount of time that he wasted filling up fountain pens and cleaning up smudged pages, noticed that inks' characteristics used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge free. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. Biro enlisted the help of his brother Gyorgy, a chemist, to develop viscous ink formulas/chemistries for new ballpoint designs.
Biro's innovation successfully coupled ink-viscosity with a ball-socket mechanism which act compatibly to prevent ink from drying inside the reservoir while allowing controlled flow. Biro filed a British patent on Jun. 15, 1938.
In 1941, the Biro brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, fled Germany and moved to Argentina, where they formed Biro Pens of Argentina and filed a new patent in 1943. Their pen was sold in Argentina as the Birome, which is how ballpoint pens are still known in that country. This new design was licensed by the British, who produced ballpoint pens for RAF aircrew as the Biro. Ballpoint pens were found to be more versatile than fountain pens, especially at high altitudes, where fountain pens were prone to ink-leakage.
A tattoo machine, in comparison, is a hand-held device generally used to create a tattoo, a permanent marking of the skin with indelible ink. Modern tattoo machines use electromagnetic coils to move an armature bar up and down. Connected to the armature bar is a barred needle grouping that pushes ink into the living skin. Tattoo artists generally use the term “machine”, or even “iron”, to refer to their equipment. There are also rotary tattoo machines, which are powered by regulated motors rather than electromagnetic coils.
The predecessor to the tattoo machine was the electric pen invented by Thomas Edison and patented under the title “Improvement in Stencil-Pens” in Newark, N.J., United States in 1877. It was originally intended to be used as a duplicating device, but in 1891, Samuel O'Reilly discovered that Edison's machine could be modified and used to introduce ink into the skin.
Tattoo inks are generally composed of pigments or dyes combined with a tattoo pigment vehicle which entraps, encases, incorporates, complexes, encapsulates, or is otherwise associated with the pigment to form pigment/vehicle complexes that retain the pigment in the living skin.
Leather crafting or simply leathercraft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both.
Leather dyeing usually involves the use of spirit- or alcohol-based dyes where alcohol quickly gets absorbed into moistened leather, carrying the pigment deep into the surface. “Hi-liters” and “Antiquing” stains can be used to add more definition to patterns. These have pigments that will break away from the higher points of a tooled piece and so pooling in the background areas give nice contrasts. Leaving parts unstained also provides a type of contrast.
Leather painting differs from leather dyeing in that paint remains only on the surface while dyes are absorbed into the leather. Due to this difference, leather painting techniques are generally not used on items that can or must bend nor on items that receive friction, such as belts and wallets because under these conditions, the paint is likely to crack and flake off. However, latex paints can be used to paint such flexible leather items. In the main though, a flat piece of leather, backed with a stiff board is ideal and common, though three-dimensional forms are possible so long as the painted surface remains secured.
Acrylic paint is a common medium, often painted on tooled leather pictures, backed with wood or cardboard, and then framed. Unlike photographs, leather paintings are displayed without a glass cover, to prevent mold.
Leather carving entails using metal implements to compress moistened leather in such a way as to give a three-dimensional appearance to a two-dimensional surface. The surface of the leather is not intended to be cut through, as would be done in filigree.
The main tools used to “carve” leather include: swivel knife, veiner, beveler, pear shader, seeder, cam, and background tool. The swivel knife is held similar to pencil and drawn along the leather to outline patterns. The other tools are punch-type implements struck with a wooden, nylon or rawhide mallet. The object is to add further definition with them to the cut lines made by the swivel knife.
Methods and machines for decorating, manufacturing and/or assembling a wearable leather article are also known. Examples of wearable leather articles include shoes, hats, pants, and jackets. Methods and machines for decorating, manufacturing and/or assembling a leather furniture articles are also known. Examples of leather furniture articles include cushions of chairs, seats, sofas, and stools. And, other leather accessories such as bags, totes, covers, cases, etc. have been made and decorated.
As disclosed herein, certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to needle-point pen utensils for marking tangible articles. Other features, tools, and newly discovered benefits are further discussed hereinafter in the Detailed Description or would be understood to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the newly discovered and disclosed tools, methods, processes, control, and benefits discussed herein.